All things root! and more root!

I own the E4gT and i recently updated to ICS. However, i hate what samsung did to TW, and separated phone and contacts and i can no longer swipe to call and text by swiping in the favorites....so anyway, there are a lot of features i don't like in the official ICS release for the phone.

I would like to root my phone, but i am only interested in basic OS changes, such as being able to swipe left or right to call from favorites, maybe some new widgets, lock screen customization, notification bar customization, etc. So basically i am not interested yet (until i know exactly what i am doing) on flashing roms for better 3g speeds, overclocking, or anything that changes the core function of the OS.

That being said, I think for the epic 4g touch, we cannot use CWM or CyanogenMod??? And use ODIN instead??? I know these terms but am not really sure what they do. I would like a simple root method, (like one for an *****, step by step or a link to a website.) I'm having trouble finding information about ODIN, since i guess this is the best way to go...???????

So in short, can someone please explain to me:

1. What is difference between CWM and ODIN?? Why are samsung phones sometimes not supported???

2. What is ODIN and do i have to download it on my computer ( I would like to root with just my phone and no computer help if possible)

3. Since i am on ICS, do i need to be very careful about some rooting instructions that may assume i am on GB, will this brick my phone????????

4. What are some good simple yet customizable and stable roms that are not heavy on overclocking or other stuff like that but are more customizable??

Cwm is a customized version of the built in recovery on your phone. Odin is used by Samsung (and us) to update software/firmware on your phone. No you do not need to be careful with the rooting methods available. Use the Odin One-Click method. You will need a PC. You DO need to be careful flashing new roms. There are 15 gagillion resources for information on this. Research and read read read the wealth of information generously provided by Google on matter before delving into this. Go to XDA and read up on all the various roms available, there are too many to list. I would highly suggest Dark Knight's AOKP port posted here but if you are not looking for significant OS changes, don't bother and just stay stock rooted. Go watch some of qbkings videos on youtube. Good luck.

You need to use Odin to root your phone. If you root with the package that includes cwm, you will then use that to flash a rom. Make sure it has the emmc bug fix.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Android Central Forums

This sums it up for the most part. Odin is really only needed once, to flash the pre-rooted ROM package that sfhub put together. This got complicated over the past several months though with the emmc brick bug, so Odin had to be used much more often than was necessary in the past, although Mobile Odin made this easier. However, while the bug still exists (since it's at the chip level), kernel developers have identified the problem and are building workarounds into their code, so that formatting the emmc with a custom recovery is safe again.

I'm planning to get a full root and flash guide up soon, that will hopefully provide a foundation for people who are looking to root their E4GTs for the first time.

This sums it up for the most part. Odin is really only needed once, to flash the pre-rooted ROM package that sfhub put together. This got complicated over the past several months though with the emmc brick bug, so Odin had to be used much more often than was necessary in the past, although Mobile Odin made this easier. However, while the bug still exists (since it's at the chip level), kernel developers have identified the problem and are building workarounds into their code, so that formatting the emmc with a custom recovery is safe again.

I'm planning to get a full root and flash guide up soon, that will hopefully provide a foundation for people who are looking to root their E4GTs for the first time.

I'm assuming this will cover how to root and flash ROMs from ICS, right? I read in a previous post that you have to flash GB before going to the ROM you want. Is this still true?

I read in a previous post that you have to flash GB before going to the ROM you want. Is this still true?

Sent from Whiterun, with love.

Well, the answer is both yes and no. If you're stock ICS right now, and you use sfhub's Odin one-click to root, then use his autoroot tool to inject the FF18+CWM kernel repack, then no, you will not need go back to a Gingerbread kernel before you flash a ROM. This is because sfhub's kernel is "SAFE" from the emmc brick bug.

However, not all kernels have been modified to be safe from the brick bug, as there is plenty of older ICS kernels floating around out there that could brick the phone on a data format. As long as you know that the ICS kernel currently on your phone has been listed as "SAFE", then you can use custom recovery to perform all functions without risk of triggering the bug and bricking your phone.

If you're not sure, using Odin or Mobile Odin to first flash a Gingerbread kernel + CWM is still the safest method.